As ABC noted, Portman—who in 2012 was one of several vice presidential candidates considered by Mitt Romney—is the only sitting Republican senator to publicly support same-sex marriage.

Rove also said the GOP must focus on outreach to Latino voters.

“We need to take our spokesmen, like Susana Martinez and Brian Sandoval, governors of New Mexico and Nevada and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and get them out there along with the rest of the party, communicating around the country,” Rove said. “It’s amazing to me—in Texas, a Republican naturally campaigns everywhere in Texas, including Latino communities, African-American communities, Anglo communities, rural, urban. But in other states that’s just not normal. We need to make it normal.”

Of the GOP’s somewhat pubic post-election brainstorming, Rove said, “I think this is a constructive process. And I see a lot coming out of it.”